A Day Late and a Dollar Short

[applesaucemod]

As far as dreams go, this seems surprisingly...normal. True, the dreamers of Manhattan and beyond will find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean on a fairly deserted rocky island, but it's nothing so unusual as the labyrinth from last time, and no one appears to have become an animal or reverted to an insane past (or future) version of themself. Besides, well, rocks and grass, there's nothing here but an abandoned lighthouse, the doors and windows broken, and the spare furniture worn by the weather. You can go up the spiral staircase to look at the view, but there's nothing to see but the endless ocean. One might almost think tonight was a night for simple socializing via the telepathic current.

As if anything to do with the rift is ever that simple, you silly bumpkin. How quickly each person realizes what is unusual about tonight's dream will depend in large part on their personality. Some might go the entire night without noticing (except from the distress of others, naturally), but some will find out the instant they open their mouths to converse with another dreamer. You see, each and every dreamer will be completely unable to tell a lie for as long as the dream lasts. The truth might be evaded by omission, but any attempt to say that which is untrue will result in the corresponding truth emerging instead.

Good thing it's just a dream and everyone's going to forget in the morning, right? Right??


[Mod note: As usual, players can choose to have their characters remember or forget anything that happens in the Dreaming. As per usual party rules, both members and non-members are welcome to play any character in this post, regardless of whether that character is currently in the game. Unlike usual, tonight's theme is not optional; all characters will be subject to the enforced truth-telling. Have fun!]

Comments

[watchesthebeans]

"Maybe?" Aglet's voice climbs the register. He doesn't want to move from where he is...and some small selfish part of him whispers that maybe it'd be alright to stay like this and be safe -- or as safe as Beans are, anyway. "I'm not sure how it works. I thought we had to be touching, but you didn't touch me. I think --" maybe we'd better not "-- I don't want to."

[ginormotron]

'You don't want to?' Sam, if he were his full size, would probably be pretty intimidating just now. His shoulders are up, his nostrils flared. Five or six inches tall, however, he's pretty sure he's not, and man, he never really realised how much he took his size for granted, but this is incredibly frustrating.

'What, you think you can just... steal my height and leave me knee-high to a fucking cat?'

With a certain amount of effort, he reigns in his temper, shoving his hands through his hair. 'Would you-- can you, like, sit down, or something? So I at least don't have to shout up so far to you?'

[watchesthebeans]

It's not that bad! he tries to protest. You'll be fine!

"It's really dangerous out here when you're little!" Aglet says instead, the words practically torn out of him. His posture is the opposite of Sam's; he's cringing in on himself, arms wrapped around his front and gaze directed firmly in the direction of his own feet. He bites his lip, surprised at himself for saying that when he's trying to convince the Bean that really, it's okay for him to be the big one for a while. After a moment of hesitation, he glances at the Bean to make sure he's still in the same place and it's okay to move, then obediently sits on a nearby rock. "I could turn you back later," he says. That much is true, at least.

[ginormotron]

'You think?' Sam snaps, before he can quite stop himself. Because yeah, he just bets. And probably even more dangerous when you're not used to the dangers that come with being little. But no, right, the kid is at least doing as he asked-- and he is a kid, Sam sees, with his face now a little closer to his, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old. He's probably just as freaked as Sam is, and selfish, in the way all teenagers are selfish. Sam is going to have to reason with him, not shout.

'What's your name?' It's the same tone he uses on confused civilians or grieving relatives when he and Dean work a case, the tone that invites confidentiality, promising that Sam's harmless, that he understands. 'I'm Sam.'

[watchesthebeans]

Aglet flinches. Yeah, he knows. He doesn't actually want to be big, not forever, but right now he doesn't want to go back to hiding under that rock, either. For all he knows, Sam might turn around and leave him to fend for himself, or even stomp on him in revenge.

"Aglet," he replies, finally meeting Sam's gaze. It still boggles his mind to be the big one -- does he really look that small to Beans like Jennifer? "My name is Aglet Bottlerack."

[ginormotron]

'Aglet,' Sam repeats. It's a hell of a weird name, like something a fairy in a children's book might be called, but he's not judging. He's too busy taking deep breaths and making sure that his face and voice stay appropriately calm.

'And you're normally this size? The size I am now, I mean.'

[watchesthebeans]

Or like a piece of shoelace plastic. Aglet nods, encouraged by the Bean's reasonableness. "I'm, um, a Borrower."

And his face falls as he realizes that this is the second -- no, third -- Bean he's told about the existence of Borrowers. Jennifer and Topher have already told others, no doubt, but he sort of trusts Romac (mostly because they haven't done anything so far). "You're not supposed to know that," he mumbles.

[ginormotron]

Sam has no idea what a Borrower is, other than, apparently, a name for a tiny person, but Aglet looks self-conscious and crestfallen at having mentioned it at all. Ok, Sam can run with that.

'That's ok,' he assures Aglet. 'I know a lot of stuff I'm not supposed to know, anyway. I've never heard of Borrowers before; what are they? Or, you, whatever.'

[watchesthebeans]

"You do?"

Well, he's kind of blown the whole don't-get-seen thing. Aglet thought he'd been seen about as badly as a Borrower could be when he met Jennifer, but this takes the cupcake. This is probably as far from not being seen as it's possible to get. The only thing he could do worse would be to tell this Bean where Borrowers live.

"We're people," he shrugs. "But we're that size." He gestures to Sam, and adds, "We, um, take things."

He frowns at his slip. They don't take, no matter what Jennifer says. Taking is a different thing entirely. "I meant to say we borrow," he corrects himself. "From Beans, like you."

[ginormotron]

'It's kinda my job to know things most people don't.'

Which is true, though he hadn't actually meant to say so; Sam doesn't usually make a habit of volunteering unnecessary information unless people ask after it. Well, he rationalises to himself, he is trying to establish a rapport with this kid; being a little freer with information than usual will hopefully help with that.

Though excess honesty seems to be going around, as Aglet frowningly corrects himself. Sam quirks an eyebrow. Though he's rarely resorted to actual theft, Sam grew up with stuff acquired with dubious legitimacy; it doesn't faze him.

What does is Aglet's categorisation of him as a-- bean? Pretty sure that's what he heard.

'Sorry, from whats like me?'

[watchesthebeans]

"Beans. Human -- human be-ings," replies Aglet, closing his eyes and enunciating sheepishly. Jennifer's told him enough times by now that he knows 'bean' isn't the proper word, but he's refused to stop calling them that out of bloody-mindedness a sense of tradition. "It's just what we call you."

[ginormotron]

'Human beans, right.' Sam sighs. 'Ok, howabout we make a deal, Aglet? You wanna spend some time ... bean-sized, that's fine, I get it. Sometimes it sucks to be small; I used to be pretty shrimpy for a human. But you carry me around with you for that time, and at the end of it, you switch us back. Does that sound fair?'

Because even tiny, Sam's reasonably confident in his abilities to convince the kid to return him to his normal size through force, but honestly, he really doesn't want to.

[watchesthebeans]

"I just don't want to get hurt," confesses Aglet. I don't really want to be Bean-sized at all. "And I kind of want to try it out for a while."

He blinks, surprised by his own admission. Doesn't he want to get back to his own size? Well, no, but he thought he just wanted to be big because he feels a little safer right now than he did under that rock. Biting his lip, he only hesitates a moment before he nods, putting aside the question of what he just said for the moment. "Alright." It's not like he wanted to leave Sam to get killed.

[ginormotron]

That's fine, Sam means to say, to keep up the gentle, nonjudgemental negotiating. What comes out is the kind of sharp, threatening tone he'd normally use on a monster tied to a chair. 'Try it for a while, but you'd better not decide you wanna keep it after that.'

As soon as he says it, he's vaguely appalled by himself. He's had his temper much more in check in recent years, and Aglet's given him no reason to treat him like that. Awkward, he uses a hand to shove his hair out of his face. 'I'm-- sorry, I didn't mean to say that. That was-- yeah, sorry. Uh, can I ride on your shoulder? That way we can still talk while you... walk around or whatever.'

[watchesthebeans]

"I'm not a bean," says Aglet sharply in return, hurt that Sam thinks he'd do that, and wondering just a bit how Sam would make him give it back if he decided not to. He can't hold it against him, though, when the bean apologizes so quickly.

"Yeah," he agrees, nodding. "But it's kind of hard to ride on someone. Even when I'm in someone's pocket, I feel like I'm going to fall."

[ginormotron]

Sam's grateful Aglet doesn't pursue the subject; something weird is going on here, even aside from the six feet that've been knocked off his height.

'Ok, well,' he sighs. 'You're the expert; what's the best way for me to do this?'

[watchesthebeans]

Aglet shrugs. "I mean, you could try it -- but if it were me, I'd probably just ride in a pocket."

Little does he know how nerve-wracking this is going to be from the perspective of the giant normal-sized person tasked with not accidentally squashing his tiny passenger.